Nine Chinese Launch New Sydney Immigration Protest

Posted onSeptember 22, 2010

Nine Chinese launch new Sydney immigration protest

By Greg Wood (AFP)
September 22, 2010

SYDNEY—-Nine Chinese nationals protested from the roof of an Australian immigration centre on Wednesday, following a tense stand-off with a group of Tamils a day earlier and the suicidal plunge of another inmate.

The nine including four women — one of whom is pregnant, according to activists — climbed onto the Villawood detention centre roof just 12 hours after the Sri Lankan Tamils were coaxed down.

“There are nine people — five males, four females — all Chinese nationals,” an immigration department spokesman told AFP. “These detainees are not illegal maritime arrivals,” he stressed.

Activists said the protesters were aged between 20 and 27 years old, had come into Australia on student or tourist visas and were now seeking asylum.

The Social Justice Network's Jamal Daoud, who is campaigning against Australia's mandatory detention of asylum-seekers, said they had been held for between two weeks and six months and one of the women was two months pregnant.

“They've demanded their immediate release to community and then the review of their cases,” Daoud said.

“At the moment we are trying to establish some contact with their support network, but their limited English is making things difficult.”

Television footage of the group showed at least one of the women crying, crouched near the rooftop's edge, and the immigration spokesman said police had been called to the scene as a precaution while negotiations continued.

“I don't have information to suggest that people are distressed or have been threatening to jump.”

Eight Sri Lankan Tamils ended a 30-hour rooftop standoff with authorities at the centre on Tuesday night after negotiations with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). They had threatened to jump if their cases were not reviewed.

Their protest followed the death of Fijian Josefa Rauluni, 36, who leaped to his death in front of horrified onlookers on Monday, shortly before he was due to be deported.

Australia has a policy of mandatory detention for asylum-seekers while their claims are processed, and generally holds detainees on remote Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

But increasing numbers of illegal immigrants arriving by boat — more than 4,000 so far this year — have forced the reopening of mainland centres, including Villawood, which houses about 300 people.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen stressed that the protests related to claims for asylum and were not about conditions in the detention centres, but he admitted that the system was under strain.

“I've made it clear, and in as up-front way as I can, that our detention centres are under some pressures,” he said.

He blamed the crowded centres on increased boat numbers, higher rejection rates due to the improvement of security conditions in some countries and an ongoing freeze on processing of Afghan refugee claims.

“I understand that emotions run very high when it comes to asylum claims but it is down to our officials and our tribunals to determine cases on all the facts,” he said.

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QUICK IMMIGRATION FACTS----THE FOLLOWING "CLOCKS" BEGAN ON JANUARY 1, 2018 :

1. Net Cost of Immigration to Canada: up to $35 Billion per year. That amounts to $95,890,000 per day, and so far in 2018,

2. Number of immigrants coming to Canada per year: an average of close to 250,000 since 1991 (Note: in 2016 and 2017, Canada took in about 300,000). That's 822 per day, 34 per hour. This unnecessary and relentless intake is an abnormality in our immigration history, and has made many Canadians feel like strangers in their ouwn country.

3. According to the Canadian Bureau of International Education (a private advocacy group), there were over 336,000 foreign students in Canada in 2014. The CBIE and many public agencies claim that International Students are a net economic contributor to Canada. However, NO Canadian study has ever been done to prove that claim. In fact, in the U.S., a study done by the National Academy of Sciences and other agencies showed that in spite of the high fees paid by International Students, U.S. sources were actually subsidizing International Students. In the case of Graduate students, the average subsidy was about $12,000 + per year. Canada continues to accept large numbers of NEW international students every year:

4. Number of Temporary Foreign Workers allowed to work in Canada: We hit a record 491,547 in 2012 (5 times higher than in 2002)!! That number consisted of 213,573 new TFW's in 2012 and 277,974 TFW's already here.

5. Remittances sent overseas total $24 Billion a year. Remittances represent the amount of money sent 'back home' by foreign-born workers in Canada.

6. Canada gave refugee status to 122,518 people from 2009 to 2013. That's an average of 24,514 people in each year --- 67 per day. The number of people applying for such status was probably at least twice the 24,514 number.